But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.
Saul feared David because he sensed that God had left him and was with David instead. Note this well: those truly great and to be reverenced have God with them. David's wise behavior only deepened Saul's fear, for wisdom commands respect where threats and hectoring earn only the contempt of the discerning. Saul foolishly removed him from court, thinking to weaken him, but gave David instead a chance to win the people's love.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Samuel 18:12-30
And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David,.... His youngest daughter fell in love with him, because of the comeliness of his person, his gallant behaviour, his wise conduct, and the general esteem and reputation he was had in, as may be supposed: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him; not that his daughter loved David, or that he should be his son-in-law, but that...
But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife. (h) By whom he had five sons who David put to death at the request of the Gibeonites, .